Blog

The Lily is a flower highly valued by the Florist. Mindful of global trends – your Florist will be well aware that in terms of Worldwide Popularity, the Lily is almost always in the Top Ten of Most Popular Flowers – the Lily usually holds her place, like a floral table-setting, around Number Four in the Top Ten rankings.

But like a flower spray full of colour, a visionary Florist is also gifted with a great imagination – and can see the Lily in all her glory – a bloom redolent with possibility for creative flower arrangements. This is the case across the floral colour spectrum no matter what the florist is working on – the same day of work might bring the florist right across the Lily range – the Orange Lily full of showiness and splendour, or the shy bridal features of Roseblush petals.

Variety of choice ensures that Lilies of all kind are in demand right across the board as flower of choice for Weddings, Funerals, Birthdays, Communions, Easter Celebrations, Anniversaries, Baby Arrivals, Christmas, Mother’s Day, and increasingly also for Father’s Day flower arrangements.

The Lily is also a flower full of the symbolism and the scent of history, and yet still so relevant today. Take that famous Lily of the Valley – in Christian legends, Lily references are sprinkled over Bible texts like spring flowers, or bluebells over a woodland setting. In the time of Christ, Lily of the Valley flower had the legendary term of Our Lady’s Tears, or Mary’s Tears. And today, brides, indeed bridal couples, from all over the world are drawn to this delicacy of floral beauty – perhaps because these flowers beautifully reflect how marriage is about bright white beginnings and the green shoots of hope.

Easy to see why. One single Lily of the Valley stalk can hold and nourish as many as 12 beautiful flowers. These flowers are fragile, shaped like a tiny bell, hold an endearing nodding quality, and the petals have lovely scalloped edges. From Biblical times to Bridal Bouquets – appealing today and right through history. It’s no wonder that Wedding Planners are drawn to this flower as bees to the honeysuckle.

Creatively, the diversity of Lily Flowers yield so much – gives the florist great scope to play with, endless Lily display possibilities are cradled within all of the flower’s beautifully named parts – Petal, Carpel, Stamen, Stem. Grades and shades – spectacular floral abundance and great shapes – from the darling to the daring – bright outrageous Radiant Reds and Sunbursts of Yellow and Orange Flowers – to the shy subtle sweetness of Lilies of the Valley, which resemble tiny white bells. You’ve got Lilies shaped like Stars, or the curling cupped shape of the Cala Lily, the colour of Rich Cream, it’s cup shape and cream velvety texture perfect for a dinner table floral centrepiec reflecting coffee and cream coloured desserts. Or, choose the RoseLily Belonica – like the Oriental Double Lily – all layers and baby pinks and white – resembling a Ballerina’s dress made out of flowers – perfect for a little girls’s birthday.

From Stargazers to Casablancas, the Lily is a flower that commands attention and is highly sought because of that striking magnificence. Though the focus here in on the variety of Lily, the flower often displays some unique style features – the Lily will generally have six petals (or tepals) – either in plain but rich colour, or with beautiful markings. They are often Trumpet shaped, with a strong noble appearance, sitting with regal posture on top of sturdy tall green stems. Both beautiful and fragile, majestic and proud.

And drawn back by the Lily filled bridal carriage of wedding themes, the attraction of the Lily as part of the floral wedding narrative is also connected to the Lily as an emotional symbol, not to mention Royal Connections:

In general, the Lily is a symbol of Purity and Refinement.

But this branches out like a cherry tree into an array of meanings, according to colour and variety:

Orange Lily is a mark of Passion

White Lily stands for modesty, virginity, purity.

Yellow Lily symbolises Joy, Gaiety, Laughter

Lily of the Valley is a symbol of Sweetness and Purity of Heart.

Easter Lily is a symbol of the Virgin Mary, so here the Lily straddles the old and the new – the Biblical flower of Christ, along with the virginal metaphor of wedding as a new beginning.

The Bell Shaped Beauty in the Lily of the Valley, perhaps because of this flower’s shy, nodding quality, was given a starring role in Royal Circles as recently as 2011, during what is considered the wedding of the century. Lily of the Valley was the chosen Bridal Bouquet of the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton for her wedding nuptials to celebrate her marriage to Prince William.

This Royal seal has woven a fresh romantic element into the ongoing story of the popular Lily flower. And like all good stories, flowers delivered in a storyline brings a twist in the tale, especially in the horticultural definition of Lily of the Valley – described as flowers full of scent and sweetness, and is also highly poisonous – gives new definition to the beautiful concept of flower deliveries! There is another whole article to be written on our site about both the toxic qualities, but also the extraordinary healing powers and other beautiful blossoming qualities of the Lily flowering family.